February 1, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Aaron Brothers
Inc., a unit of arts and crafts retailer Michaels Stores, has
settled a lawsuit claiming it didn't properly pay overtime to
store managers.
Although the terms of the settlement were not reported,
Michaels, of Irving, Texas, will take a $5 million pre-tax
charge to cover its expenses, Reuters reported.
The dispute started in April 1999 when Suzanne Collins,
a former Aaron Brothers assistant manager, filed suit in
Los Angeles superior court to recover back overtime
pay.
Collins’ suit said Aaron Brothers was mistaken when it
treated store managers, assistant store managers, and
managers-in-training as exempt for overtime purposes.
December 31, 2001 (PlANSPONSOR.com) - It's been a
bad year for US mutual funds - in fact, US diversified stock
funds are down 10.6% through last Thursday - the worst since
1974's 24.9% slide, according to Lipper.
On the other hand, they are up 15.2% in the fourth
quarter, the best fourth quarter performance since 1999’s
20.3% surge, and quite a turnaround from the 17.8% loss
suffered by diversified funds the prior quarter.
Still, more than three-quarters (77%) of the 2,202 US
stock funds tracked by Lipper are set to post declines in
2001, according to Reuters.
There were some bright spots this year: small-cap value
funds continued to shine, with the average such fund
gaining 16.7% so far, according to Lipper. Small-cap core
funds were 8% higher, on average, while mid-cap value funds
rose 10.7%.
Alternative Investments
The uncertain economic times boosted gold funds (up
18.3% on average) and real estate funds (8.5% higher on
average).
Also benefiting from the stock market tumult were bond
funds. The average taxable bond fund has risen 5.5% in
2001, according to Lipper.
Tech Tripped
Science and technology funds have lost 37.1% this year-
and have now wiped out the gains from their 1999 run. But
in 2001 telecom firms fared even worse, slumping 39.2% so
far.
Multi-cap growth funds fell 25.7%, and large-cap growth
funds have lost 22.4% this year, according to the
report.
Emerging markets funds fared best among international
offerings but are still 4.6% lower in 2001.
Last year, diversified stock funds slipped an average
1.67%, compared with a 28.3% surge in 1999, according to
Lipper.
Tops and Bottoms
The fund tracker says the top performing fund for the
year so far is the Pilgrim Russia fund, with a 77.6%
return. Bringing up the rear was the 55% loss of the
Ameritor Investment fund.
As for the nation’s two largest funds, Fidelity Magellan
is down 11% in 2001, while Vanguard’s 500 Index offering is
11.3% lower, according to Lipper.